The Court Distinguishes Mandatory Mediation Language Of Frei v. Davey. We sometimes supplement our diet of published cases with unpublished cases — especially for mediation decisions, which are few in supply compared to arbitration decisions. Ocean Tomo, LLC v. PatentRatings, LLC v. Patent Ratings, LLC, G055429 (consol. with G056063, G056829) (4/3 6/13/19) (Fybel, Aronson, Thompson) […]
Employee Was Required To Have Informal Meeting With Employer First, Formal Mediation Next, And Then Arbitration, With Employer Paying Costs Of ADR Remedies. Justice Bedsworth, in his distinctively colorful writing style, reversed a denial of a motion to compel arbitration in line with an ADR agreement between employee and employer in Barati v. Ottno, Inc., […]
The General Rule In A California Association Of Realtors Purchase And Sale Agreement Requires Participation In Mediation As A Condition For A Prevailing Party To Recover Fees. The general rule under the standard CAR purchase and sale agreement requires participating in mediation as a condition precedent for fee recovery. The rule was explained by Justice […]
A Mistake By The Trial Court Did Not Affect The Outcome. Client Nussbaum and attorney Liberty had a fee dispute that they arbitrated pursuant to the Mandatory Fee Arbitration Act (MFAA). The arbitration panel awarded Liberty $75K in fees and $30K in interest. After the notice of the award was mailed and more than 30 […]
The The Wrinkle Here Is That The Prevailing Party Claimed She Did Not Need To Satisfy The Condition Precedent Because She Never Signed The Contract. Standard real estate purchase and sale agreements in California, e.g., California Association of Realtors forms, include a provision requiring mediation as a condition precedent that must be satisfied before a […]
It’s Not Exactly The Same As Skipping Mediation In A Home Sale Purchase In California . . . . California courts have established that the consequence of not requesting mediation before suing for breach of a California Association of Realtor’s residential purchase agreement is that the plaintiff will not recover attorney’s fees even if […]
True, Mediation Conditions Precedent To Collecting Attorney’s Fees Are Strictly Interpreted – But Not Here, Where Commonsense Dictated Otherwise. Check out the September 13, 2016 post in California Attorney’s Fees, the blawg my colleague Mike Hensley and I contribute to, about Lamar Central Outdoor, LLC v. Hwang, Case No. B266070 (2d Dist., Div. 5 […]
The Parties Had Agreed To Mediate. Efforts to avoid mediation can be costly. For example, in real estate disputes, the standard California Association of Realtors purchase and sale agreement requires mediation before litigation – and participation in mediation becomes a precondition to collecting attorneys fees for a prevailing party. In our next case, a […]
Failure Of Contractual Dispute Resolution Procedures In Contract To Track Protections In The Right To Repair Act Did Not Make The Provisions Unconscionable The Right To Repair Act, Civ. Code sections 895 et seq., (Act) require a homeowner to provide a builder with notice of defects and an opportunity to investigate and repair them. […]
Here, The Prevailing Party Fails To Mediate, And Fails To Recover Attorney’s Fees In our next case, plaintiffs’ claims arose from mismanagement of their property. They sued, and obtained a substantial recovery – but no attorney’s fees. Why? Because mediation was a precondition in their contract for the prevailing party to receive attorney’s fees, […]